a/n: I am sorry that I suck at updating and that this chapter is not that good and there's a lot of little mistakes. I did my best under certain curcumstances.

Next chapter is the wedding so I hope the sucky author will do better =)

Lots of love

EC!0X

"Yes," Bella repeated.

Edward turned to face her, surprise on his handsome face. "Yes?" He hadn't expected for her to say yes. Never had he expected her to say yes! Maybe he didn't know this head-strong brunette as well as he thought he did.

"I'll do it. I'll marry you." She paused. "I'm doing it for everyone else except you. I'm doing it for Charlie, Jessica, Carlisle, Alice, Esme, Emmett. But most importantly, I'm doing it for Reneesme. She needs her father; you fill a gap that I haven't been able to fill in five years. She needs you."

***

Bella walked through the now familiar lobby of the Cullen offices. Emmett waited for her and Alice at the reception desk.

He greeted them with steaming hot coffee. Bella took a sip of the coffee and it instantly woke all her cells up, she could feel the buzz begin to build inside her. The taste was far richer than any coffee she'd drank in Forks.

She sipped some more as she climbed the elevator with her soon-to-be-in-laws to Edward's floor. It had been two days since she'd accepted his offer and they'd agreed to meet today to organize the agreement.

He was waiting for her. He watched her warily as she placed her handbag on the floor next to the chair sat on. His calculating gaze made her uneasy.

"What's wrong?"

His face softened but his gaze remained hard. "I got you something."

His gaze dropped and hers followed to a small blue box that sat in-between them. Horror stole her speech.

"Open it."

It was harder than it should have been to pick up the little box. Bella tried to keep her hand from shaking. The surface was smooth with blue satin. She brushed her fingers over it, hesitating before she undid the white, silk ribbon and let it fall on the desk. She couldn't bring herself to open the lid.

She didn't know how long Edward allowed her to sit and gawp at the box, before his big hands took it from hers. Her eyes never left the small box.

He lifted the lid. The Tiffany and Co. ring sparkled in the light. The face was a long oval, set with slanting rows of glittering round stones. The band was gold – delicate and narrow. The gold made a fragile web around the diamonds. She'd never seen anything like it.

"It's so pretty," she murmured to herself, surprised.

"See if it fits."

"No, Edward." She said, clenching her hands into fists.

She still hadn't regained her composure when he reached over to take her left hand in his. The warmth of his hand made her heart beat faster. She felt a current of electricity penetrating from him. She hadn't felt like that in years. Four and a half to be exact.

She looked up to meet his gaze burning into her with an emotion she could not decipher.

He slid the ring into place on her third finger and held her hand out for them to examine the oval sparkling on her finger.

He let go of her hand and the ring suddenly felt like it weighed a ton.

"It fits perfectly."

"Hm," Bella shrugged and let her hand drop to her lap.

There was a pause.

"We need to buy a house. My apartment is not exactly child-friendly."

Bella took a minute to understand what he was saying. Living under a roof with him alone, well apart from Ness.

"If you thought that the ring would distract me into giving in to stupid requests like a house, you thought wrong. Besides why can't we stay with your family?"

"Well, now that Alice is head of stock marketing and we are bringing back the Swan, it turns out that all my siblings will be relocating to New York. I don't think Esme really would appreciate six twenty-something year olds living in her house."

"All you want is rights to my name; I don't see why we have to live together." Bella stated.

Forty-five minutes later Bella and Edward hard agreed to buy a house, not to enroll Reneesme at a nursery because they were unaware how long the arrangement would last, and had set a date for the wedding.

Edward had thoroughly explained to Bella her obligation. She was to act as the perfect and submissive wife when necessary, which would be often as Edward had mentioned.

She getting ready to leave but she couldn't help but ask.

'Don't you find it disturbing that you're marrying me just so you can bring back this room,' she asked, 'and not because of love? Marriage is supposed to be sacred.'

'It's not forever, Bella. And it enables us to achieve the same goal. We both want to help our families and it seems a fake marriage will do just that.'

'So we marry for profit. How can I possibly refuse such a romantic offer?' she asked lightly.

"I can't imagine."

'February 8th. And then we'll be married,' she murmured.

'Temporarily.'

***

As part of the arrangement, Jessica had flown to New York as Bella's business partner to help Emmett rebuild and design the Swan.

"Can you believe this?" Jessica asked, as she showed Bella her temporal hotel room. "It was part of the contract that they'd take care of the traveling but I never expected to end up at the Four Seasons!"

"Jessica, are you listening to me?" Bella had been explaining to her friend that her upcoming wedding was a charade.

"You are marrying a freaking Cullen! I would most likely die of happiness if I was you. I know it bothers you," she said and Bella could hear the confusion, "but it's not like its forever, right?"

"I guess." This was a living nightmare. She was the only person who didn't want go through the wedding.

"Oh, there you are. I was hoping to find you here. I just wanted a word with Bella about a few wedding details." Renee, Bella's mother said through the Jessica's open doorway.

Bella sighed; her mother was another person to add to her long list of people who wanted her to marry possibly the only man in the world she could not stand. What made it worse was that Renee knew the wedding was a fake. She had flown also to New York and was staying at the Four Seasons and helping Esme, Alice and Rosalie plan the wedding.

Bella was not taking part of the wedding preparation. She just had to show up on the day in the white dress they'd chosen for her.